Trader Joe’s inks 23K sf lease in EV: sources

Richard Kessler, a rendering of 432-438 East 14th Street and the Trader Joe’s in Union Square

Grocery store chain Trader Joe’s is taking a two-level, nearly 23,000-square-foot space in a new residential-and-retail development in the East Village across the street from Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village, sources told The Real Deal.

There had been speculation that Trader Joe’s would take space in Extell Development’s large residential-and-retail project a block to the east, at 500 East 14th Street. Target signed a 30-year lease there last year.

The average ground floor rent in comparable spaces nearby is about $150 per square foot, according an analysis by the developers disclosed in a city filing with the city’s Board of Standards and Appeals. In addition, the filing said the developers expected to get $2.3 million per year in retail rent, which would come out to about $150 per square foot on the ground floor. It was not clear if that’s what Trader Joe’s will pay.

In addition to the retail, the project has 87,813 square feet of residential space with 113 residential units. Twenty-three of those will be affordable and 90 market-rate. The developers expect to earn about $6 million in residential rental income once the $107 million project is completed.

Representatives for Mack and Trader Joe’s did not respond to a request for comment.